Megan Follows is coming full circle: After breaking out as Anne Shirley in “Anne of Green Gables,” she will now play its author Lucy Maud Montgomery in upcoming series “Lucy. Maud.”
“I’ve always been incredibly grateful to be introduced, as a young woman, to the power of a character who was a central figure in her own story. One thing I share with the writers [of the show] is that our lives were greatly influenced by Anne. She defined us as artists, as writers, me as an actor,” she told Variety.
“Anne of Green Gables,” about an orphaned girl coming to Prince Edward Island in the late 19th century after being adopted – by mistake – by middle-aged siblings and immediately changing their lives, premiered in 1985.
“On my way to Berlin, four different flight attendants came up to me because they recognized me from that show. They all had something personal to say about why this character meant something to them. It’s a testament to the power of this author.”
A Story Girls Productions, “Lucy. Maud.” – presented at Berlinale’s Co-Pro Series – is written by creator Susan Coyne (“Daisy Jones & the Six,” 2016’s “Anne of Green Gables”) and Rosa Laborde. Follows will also serve as one of the directors – and producers, alongside Edwina Follows and Mary Young Leckie.
The team has already optioned “The Gift of Wings,” Montgomery’s biography by Mary Rubio, who also co-edited the writer’s journals.
“It has been our extraordinarily rich source material, as well as many novels which have recently come into the public domain. We believe our project is really the first dramatic adaptation of this life story,” said Follows, who first discovered Montgomery’s journals when she was playing Anne.
“I used to carry them around, because I could see there was so much more to this woman writing, at times very subversively, and exposing the world with a wicked sense of humor. She was extraordinarily intelligent, witty, observant. She had passionate affairs and lived in a time of great social upheaval and change. She’s a woman who speaks to our times.”
Follows will play Montgomery alongside other actors, all taking on different stages of her life.
“I will play Maud, as that was her preferred name, from her forties through the end of her life. But we will also go on a wonderful journey with a young Maud and Maud in her 20s. There are multiple timelines we are discovering and experiencing with her.”
Her most iconic creation, Anne, will be also returning “as a force she interacts with.”
“Maud was a very vivid dreamer: she had hyperphantasia. She really brought her characters to life. She was pressured by her publisher to make them more conformist, but she really was ahead of her time. Women had to be very careful how they masked the truth of their ambitions and Anne, for example, is a very ambitious character.”
Her later protagonists, from Emily of New Moon and Pat of Silver Bush, were even stronger, she argued.
“Emily’s actually gets to be a writer, even though the world is harder on her. As Maud aged, her characters reflected that too, they also reflected relationships in her life – the most obvious one being Marilla [from ‘Anne of Green Gables’], deeply influenced by her grandmother Lucy Macneill, very stern and very controlling. Maude’s passion and imagination, her energy and moodiness scared her.”
She added: “She was very connected to the natural world and connected to people. She created these characters to show what we can be when our communities embrace instead of reject, and when we find commonality as opposed to difference.”
Montgomery was the first Canadian woman to become a member of the British Royal Society of Arts, she was also named to the Order of the British Empire. Still, those less familiar with her work will still enjoy the series, assured Follows.
“They can watch a show about the power of creativity as a saving grace and as a means of exploring the world and finding your voice. Even when you’re up against extraordinary odds. She fought and fought for that recognition, and fought for young people around the world. She understood what it was like to be on the outside,” she noted.
“Examples of really intelligent, creative, powerful women are worth celebrating and introducing to newer generations.”
